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Migrating from Photon to Qt

The QNX Photon MicroGUI was a technological feat in its time. It gained popularity in the mid-1990's when QNX released a 1.44Mb bootable floppy with the QNX Operating System, the Photon GUI, networking, web browser, file browser, and several demo applications.

QNX continued to develop and support Photon through 2014, but as GUI development systems matured — and users' expectations for GUIs increased — Blackberry's QNX is now focusing on the basics of drawing to the screen (e.g. QNX Screen) and left other aspects of Graphical User Interfaces to those who do it best (e.g. Qt)

This presentation would be of particular interest to people looking to upgrade their software from an existing Photon system to Qt. It discusses the differences and similarities between the Photon and Qt application development platforms and how one may migrate from one to the other.

The presenter of this webinar, Bobby Chawla, has an unusual perspective in not only being a Qt expert, but also someone that had worked on the development of Photon while at QNX. This experience means that he is uniquely qualified to help companies make this sometimes difficult transition from Photon to Qt.

Bobby is a distinguished software engineer with extensive experience in design, implementation and testing of systems with Real-Time Operating requirements. Frequently taking a Systems-Engineer's Inter-Disciplinary approach of connecting different components: Physical, Hardware, Functional, Deployment and Upkeep of a system; and with Human Factors constantly in mind.

He has spent five years at QNX software systems working directly on the research & development of the Photon microGUI; and many more years with "Modelling , Simulation and Training" and Real-Time embedded systems. With almost 20 years of experience, Bobby is known for his innovative solutions, problem solving, and debugging skills and his ability to communicate well with his team members.

Bobby has a Master of Applied Science in Automation (M.A.Sc.) and a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Computer Science. Other formal credentials include the license to practice as a Professional Engineer in Ontario (P.Eng.). He has had the opportunity to work on an impressive series leading‐edge projects with ICS, GE, Abbot, Intel and the Canadian Department of National Defense.